


Powerless

by Asidian



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Action/Adventure, Broken Bones, Canon-Typical Violence, Crime Fighting, Inappropriate Use of Utensils, Injury, M/M, Partnership, Pizza, Power Loss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-15 22:30:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7241386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asidian/pseuds/Asidian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hey. Where do you think you're going?" The woman's voice stops Kotetsu fifteen feet from the door. On the outside, visible through the glass panes of it, the reporters cluster around like ants on peanut butter. One of them seems to notice him – points – and flashes from the cameras flare bright and sudden.</p><p>Beside them, in the reflection, he can see the lank and wiry form of the NEXT that moves so quickly. She's watching him in the reflection, too, he thinks. Her eyes are on his.</p><p>"I'm getting my partner out of here before you break anything else of his," Kotetsu says, and feels his hand tighten around Barnaby's shoulders, unconsciously protective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoy! Planning for this to be a multi-parter, but not a terribly long one.

Kaede's turning twelve this year, and damned if that doesn't make Kotetsu feel old. He knows fifteen will be coming up soon enough, and then twenty – then he'll be walking her down the aisle, crying like an idiot in front of everyone he knows, but he's got some time before then, at least.

Right now he only has to deal with twelve.

He starts the day the way he starts most of his off days, now – with a cup of coffee in one hand and the phone in the other. "Hey, Bunny," he says, and takes a sip of the coffee – grimaces, and realizes he forgot to add the sugar. "I'm gonna pick out something for Kaede's party today. Wanna come?"

Barnaby hums thoughtfully. "It's not until the end of the month, I thought. I'm surprised you're so early."

Kotetsu dumps in a few spoonfuls. He stirs, sips, and throws the spoon in the sink with the rest of the dirty dishes. "Some stick-in-the-mud I know lectured me the other day on procrastinating too much," Kotetsu says, cheerily. "I figured if I don't listen to him every now and then, he'll think my old man ears don't hear like they used to."

There's a soft huff of laughter on the other end of the line, and Kotetsu grins, counting it a victory.

"I'll come along," Barnaby tells him. "Someone has to keep you in line."

"And anyway," Kotetsu adds, nice and casual. "You'd better pick out a present, too. Kaede said she'd never forgive me if I didn't invite you."

There's a beat of silence on the other end. It's startled silence, Kotetsu thinks. He's getting pretty good at reading his partner, these days.

At last Barnaby says, "It won't be strange for me to be there?"

Kotetsu snorts. "Only if you go in her room. She's got posters of your face."

Another huff of laughter. Then Barnaby says, "I'll be there in half an hour," and Kotetsu counts that as a victory, too. 

===

Kotetsu's got his present for Kaede narrowed down to two choices – a cream and white bear with a teal bow or a little black sheep with curly hair and a cute smile.

He's in the middle of saying, "What do you think, Bunny? The sheep looks friendlier, right?" when their wrist bands begin to flash.

Agnes' voice says, "Bonjour, heroes. A NEXT is robbing the Stern Center Mall."

She's barely finished speaking before they start to hear the screams – long and loud and terrified, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass.

Kotetsu exchanges a look with his partner. He drops the stuffed animals back into the display bin and they turn as one for the arched walkway, sprinting across the polished floor toward the commotion.

"On it," says Kotetsu. "We're here already."

"That's what I like to hear," says Agnes. "Give us a show."

The crowd is flowing against them, shoving to go the other way, but they barrel through to the place where one of the skylights has been smashed out.

The NEXT is at the top of a fourth floor escalator – lank and wiry, the only person here not busy trying to run away. She just hit a jewelry store, by the looks of it; the bag in her fist is overflowing with necklaces, snaking trails of metal and stone that glint when they catch the light.

Kotetsu shares another look with Barnaby. "After you?"

That's really all they need by way of planning; they're that much in sync, these days.

Barnaby starts to glow, faint and blue; it wraps around him like a second skin, tints his eyes and floods him with power. He's off like a shot, powerful legs propelling him up the escalator in graceful leaps – and Kotetsu sprints after, Hundred Power dormant, saving his one minute for when they really need it.

The NEXT is distracted – busy kicking in the window of a payday loan shop when Barnaby arrives. He's nearly on her by the time she realizes she has a challenge.

Kotetsu's halfway up the third escalator, looking up through the glass-and-bronze railing that separates the floor from the cliff-like vista overhanging the open space below. So he's got a perfect view when the woman twists backward and then takes off running.

She moves like liquid mercury, faster than anything Kotetsu's ever seen. She's halfway down the hall by the time he hits the top floor.

He takes a moment, panting, to catch his breath. "It can never be easy, can it?"

Beside him, Barnaby smirks – gives him a sidelong glance. "Don't give up already, old man."

"Yeah, yeah," says Kotetsu. "Must be nice, for someone who still has his power the whole five minutes."

"Try and keep up."

Then Barnaby's off again, like the rabbit that gave him his nickname, incredible bounds that carry him between walkways, land him on railings, and are, Kotetsu is 85% certain, designed to rub it in.

"Show off," Kotetsu mutters, and takes off after him.

They're no match for the NEXT's speed, certainly – especially not Kotetsu – but there are two of them and one of her. They corral her into a dead end, where there used to be a movie theatre but now there's only a boarded up entryway with a sign that says, "Our renovations are almost finished! Come back soon!"

Barnaby's still got two and a half minutes, by Kotetsu's count, and Kotetsu hasn't tapped his own power at all. They're in good shape; they can bag the NEXT and be out of here in time to go find Kaede a present somewhere else.

But that's when Agnes' voice comes again: "I'm hearing reports of a second NEXT," she says.

It's the only warning they get.

Later, looking back, the events will run together like candle wax in Kotetsu's mind. The faint, blue glow from behind them; the sound Barnaby makes when the blow hits him; the way his Hundred Power, which should have had two minutes remaining, goes out like someone flipped a switch.

This time, when the NEXT woman moves, she doesn't run away. She presses her advantage.

She darts in like a snake, liquid fast; she feints at Barnaby's face, his chest – sweeps his legs out from under him and then is on Kotetsu before he has time to yell a warning.

One, two, three, come the jabs. They're not hard, not compared to some of the hits he's taken over the years, but so damn quick. He staggers back a step, and then another. He goes down on one knee, off-balance, just as he registers that Barnaby's beside him, holding onto the bronze-and-glass railing to help him stand. His nose is bleeding – broken, maybe.

When the kick connects with Barnaby's jaw it's not from the woman – it's from the man, the second, the NEXT who flanked them while they were trying to make the arrest.

Barnaby tips backward with the force of it, hand shooting out to catch the bannister, but he misses it and starts to go over.

Kotetsu yells, "Bunny!" He surges to his feet, letting the Hundred Power flood him, fill him with its strength and speed and ability, because to hell with saving it. He's not going to let his partner fall four stories straight down with no power to his name and nothing to cushion the landing.

The second NEXT is on him before he gets there, meets him halfway with a fist straight to the face. This blow, too, isn't so terribly hard – but as soon as it makes contact, the Hundred Power flickers and goes, snuffed out a second after activation.

Kotetsu curses – shoves the man aside – lunges for Barnaby's hand. But he's cleared the top of the railing already. His own weight's pulling him backward, eyes very wide and very green.

For an instant, there's no sound but his partner's startled intake of breath – no feeling but the icy certainty twisting at Kotetsu's stomach. Barnaby doesn't scream on the way down, but that doesn't make it any easier to hear the impact when he hits, seconds later.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to the folks who read and left kudos, and especially to those of you who took the time to leave a comment. I really appreciate it!

The sound catches in his ears – hangs there like the final echoes of a temple bell, dying away on the breeze. It's a hard, sharp sound, punctuated by a scream, and that tells Kotetsu more than he wants to know.

For a second, he can't breathe, can't think, can't focus past the hyper-awareness of the ringing in his ears and the pounding of his own heart.

Then he takes a breath in, surges to his feet, and lunges for the second NEXT's legs on the way up.

The man is thickly built, more stocky than his companion. He looks like any guy you might pass on the street – no fancy costume, just jeans and a t-shirt and a five o'clock shadow. He goes down without too much of a fuss; Kotetsu's Hundred Power might've sputtered  out because of this bastard, but he's spent thirteen years fighting bad guys. Experience is on his side.

 He's just starting to think about knocking the guy out so he can focus on the other NEXT when she takes the choice out of his hands.

Her fists are like stinging insects, quick and sharp, not powerful but persistent. She's got him pinned; the second he lets go of the power-drainer, he'll be back on his feet again, and then it'll be two on one.

Kotetsu's never been happier to hear Fire Emblem's falsetto trill out. "Yoo hoo, Tiger! Did you miss me?"

Flame roars above him, so close that the heat bakes over him and the woman darts away to put herself out of range.

The NEXT still in Kotetsu's hold twists away, wedges his foot in between them. He leans back, working to pry himself free, and in the instant before Kotetsu's grip breaks, he realizes the man's going for Nathan. "Don't let him touch you!" he gasps, just as the NEXT wrestles his way clear.

The fire roars higher, hot and bright; the power-drainer leaps backward and the glass front of the clothing store beside them breaks in, the female NEXT diving through it to escape the heat. And then suddenly, snowflakes are drifting in the air, clear and perfect in the instant before Fire Emblem's flames melt them away.

Blue Rose is on the scene, catchphrase and no-nonsense tone addressing the cameras as much as the criminal, but Kotetsu's thoughts aren't on the fight anymore.

He's been on autopilot since Barnaby went over the edge, reacting on muscle memory. Now that there are other heroes to step in and more on the way, he can hand off the arrest and turn his attention to more important things.

"I'll leave it to you guys," he manages, and breaks for the escalator.

"What?" Fire Emblem calls after him, coy and coquettish. "Cutting out just when the party's getting started?"

Kotetsu waves a hand at him, vague acknowledgement. He's not sure anything he tried to say would come out properly. His lips feel numb.

Back down the stairs he goes, two at a time, barely breathing. He pauses just once, to lean out over the hand rail – sweeps his gaze over the floor and takes in the gleaming expanse of it, clean and polished.

There's no blood, and that seems like the best he can hope for right now. There's also no Barnaby, and Kotetsu's not quite sure what that means.

He hits the ground floor panting, out of breath, and half-turns to take in the lay of the land. He's in the food court; a brightly-lit sign promises Chinese food, and a table's laid out with half-eaten pizza over toward the hallway, doubtless abandoned by some family when the NEXTs descended on the mall. To his left, the open area by the escalators – where Barnaby should have landed if he'd fallen straight down – is suspiciously empty.

"Bunny?" says Kotetsu.

There's a beat of silence before the reply, and then comes the answer, low and choked: "Over here."

He's moved himself, and that's something. However he landed, he's sitting propped up now, against one of the marble support pillars. A bolt of relief shoots through Kotetsu, so sharp and sudden that it makes his knees feel weak.

But it's not all good news. Barnaby's paler than Kotetsu's ever seen him, face caught in a grimace, legs splayed out in front of him like a particularly difficult puzzle he means to solve.

The left one is not quite as straight as it used to be – angles out just below the knee. Kotetsu thinks he can see a bulge below the skin and swallows the bile that's suddenly creeping up his throat. When that doesn't help, he swallows again, harder.

Of course his legs took the worst of the impact; small wonder, when his partner lands on his feet like a cat every damn time. But from that height, even a perfect landing can only do so much.

Kotetsu's aware of the chaos up above him still, in a distant sort of way. He's aware of the roar of Fire Emblem's flames and the snowflakes that drift down beneath the mall's wide glass ceiling. They catch the sunlight streaming in from up above, little flecks of white that are lit so brightly they gleam gold.

"Bunny?" he says again.

Barnaby looks up at him, and Kotetsu can read a lot in that face. It's paper white and sheened with sweat, the eyes already lined at the edges with pain. The mouth is a grim line, and by the set of the jaw, he's keeping his teeth ground down tight – probably to keep from screaming his head off.

"Ah, hell," says Kotetsu, and kneels beside his partner. Into the comm link he says, "Agnes, we're going to need EMTs."

Up above, the roaring of the flames has stopped, and Fire Emblem is yelling about something, but Kotetsu can't be bothered to pay attention. He takes one of his partner's hands in his own. The graceful fingers, usually so capable, are limp; the hand feels clammy and cold.

Barnaby says, "What took you?" but the words are a little uneven, not quite so precise around the edges.

Kotetsu says, "That's a lot of stairs," and Barnaby gives him a strange, flat look, like he's working through something and his mind's not quite churning at its usual speed.

"Without your Hundred Power," he says, after a beat.

"Without it," Kotetsu confirms.

Another pause, just a moment too long. "That NEXT is going to be a problem," Barnaby says at last.

On the other end of the comm link, Agnes' voice is saying, "No civilians are being allowed into the building right now. Can you move him?"

Kotetsu looks up toward the camera – a little drone flapping around on tiny propellers somewhere above the food court – and fights down the impulse to make a rude gesture at it. The snowflakes have stopped falling, but he doesn't notice. "You're watching. What the hell do you think?"

Barnaby closes his eyes for a moment, as though bracing for something. Then he says: "I don't weigh that much. If your old man arms can't lift me, you really should stop slacking off at training."

"Okay," says Agnes. "Get him out – but Tiger, you're going right back in. The rest of the heroes are deployed to Stern Center Park to deal with an explosion."

Kotetsu nods briskly – turns to his partner and offers what's meant to be a reassuring grin. It feels a little crooked around the edges; probably it falls short. "Guess it's my turn to princess carry you, this time. Ready to head out, your majesty?"

Barnaby makes a sound that's a breathless sort of huff. "Are you ever going to let me live this down?"

"Not a chance." Kotetsu gives Barnaby's hand one final squeeze before he lets it go. Then he gets one arm around his partner's shoulders – hesitates before slipping the second beneath his knees. "This is going to hurt," he warns.

Barnaby quirks a tired smile. "It hurts already."

So Kotetsu picks him up, all one fluid motion – or it would have been, if not for the choked-off cry as soon as Barnaby's legs leave the ground. He freezes in a half-crouch, afraid to keep going, and waits till the count of five. Then he says, "You okay?"

Barnaby's mouth works, like he wants to spit out something bitter. "Making it take longer doesn't exactly help."

So Kotetsu stands up the rest of the way, and Barnaby grits his teeth and sucks in a sharp breath, and goes a little limper in Kotetsu's arms – fighting not to pass out.

They came in through the food court, Kotetsu remembers; he dragged Barnaby over to get a pretzel on the way in, paid extra for four different kinds of dipping sauce and got the obligatory teasing about how he couldn't make up his mind. That seems like days ago now, but he passes the shop on the way toward the exit and realizes, distantly, that it's probably been less than an hour.

Barnaby's cradled against his chest like some kind of precious cargo. Kotetsu can feel the rise and fall of his partner's breathing – can feel his skin through the fine fabric of the expensive shirt, entirely too cold. That's shock setting in, Kotetsu tells himself, and walks a little faster.

He's almost to the door when a voice behind him says, "Hey. Where do you think you're going?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to my dad, a longtime medic who no longer even bats an eye when I take him out to dinner for Father's Day and, over the course of the meal, go, "So, if someone were to fall from four stories up, how screwed would they be on impact?" He is the actual best. <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for sticking with me, and for leaving such kind comments. You are awesome. <3
> 
> Next chapter: Bunny is a bad patient.

"Hey. Where do you think you're going?"

The woman's voice stops Kotetsu fifteen feet from the door. On the outside, visible through the glass panes of it, the reporters cluster around like ants on peanut butter. One of them seems to notice him – points – and flashes from the cameras flare bright and sudden.

Beside them, in the reflection, he can see the lank and wiry form of the NEXT that moves so quickly. She's watching him in the reflection, too, he thinks. Her eyes are on his.

"I'm getting my partner out of here before you break anything else of his," Kotetsu says, and feels his hand tighten around Barnaby's shoulders, unconsciously protective. "Do you mind?"

The reflection of the woman throws her head back, but the sound that comes from her mouth isn't a real laugh. It's flat and forced. "A little." She spreads her hands, and for the first time Kotetsu notices she's not holding the bag of jewels any longer. "This isn't a robbery, idiot. I could've been in and out before anyone noticed me, if that's all it was."

Barnaby's trembling a little, but he's awake and aware apparently, because he says, "Then what is it?"

Reluctantly, Kotetsu turns away from the door. The cameras flash behind them, brighter than the streets of Stern Bild at night, lighting up the NEXT's face in bursts of white.

Her mouth creeps wide in an insinuating sort of smirk. "A way to get you heroes split up."

"Huh?" Kotetsu says – and while he's still working it out, Barnaby beats him to it: "The explosion in the park. Friends of yours?"

The NEXT sketches a little bow, as though it's the end of a particularly elaborate stage play. "No way we could have taken all of you at once. But a handful, and without your powers? Finally, payback that's doable."

There's something about the woman's expression that Kotetsu doesn't like. Her eyes are a little too bright. She's smiling, but there's something fixed about it – something unsettling.

He almost doesn't want to ask. But while she's talking, she's not attacking, and that's something at least. "Payback for what?"

"You ruined everything," she tells him, voice hard and flat. "You heroes. It's hard enough being a NEXT anyway. Hard enough having them hate you." Kotetsu opens his mouth to interrupt, but she raises her voice and talks right over him. "Now even the ones that don't hate us look at us and say, 'What good are you, if you're not out there saving people?'"

Barnaby shifts a little in Kotetsu's arms – turns his head in, hiding his mouth from view. When he speaks, his voice is barely a breath of air. "Put me down. You're going to need your hands."

"Saving people!" says the woman. "Why should I go out every day and get shot at by strangers?"

Kotetsu starts edging toward the table still spread out with abandoned pizza and cutlery. She doesn't seem to care, as long as he's moving away from the door.

He says, "Then do something else instead. Being a hero isn't for everyone."

The NEXT makes a harsh bark of a sound, not really a laugh. "Are you even listening? No matter what I do, they point their fingers. 'You have such a gift. You could be doing so much more with your life.' It makes me sick!"

When Barnaby's voice comes, it's soft but remarkably level. "So you plan to take heroes out of the equation completely."

The NEXT looks unaccountably pleased. "Your partner really is the smart one."

All at once, Kotetsu's aware that the upstairs has become very quiet. No snowflakes are falling now; there's no distant, background roar of flames. "You want to kill us over something like that?" He tightens his grip on Barnaby. "People are asking you to help other people, and you turn around and – and _that's_ the best solution you can come up with?"

Her attitude creeps in under his skin, the way it always does when some NEXT run amok is cavalier with the lives of other people. It comes over him in a raw, hot flush of indignation, a sickening twist of his stomach. When he's honest with himself, he acknowledges that long hours spent in a hospital room with a dying woman probably taught him a lot about valuing every minute life has to offer. Kotetsu tries not to be honest with himself very often.

So he only squares his stance, and he grits his teeth. "If you hurt Blue Rose or Fire Emblem –"

"Put me down first, old man," says Barnaby, and Kotetsu checks the attack he'd been planning long enough to do it. But as he moves, the NEXT moves, too – and she's so much faster.

He means to set Barnaby on the edge of the table, gently, but suddenly the NEXT is in his space, not just with her fists, but with a knife that's still red with pizza sauce. He didn't even see her pick it up from the table behind him, but she must have reached back to grab it, because there it is, flashing silver in his face.

He jerks sideways just in time, takes the slash that nearly caught Barnaby across the chest in his own shoulder instead. Then he lets his partner go – shoves him away and tries not to feel guilty for the shout of pain at the rough landing.

By the time he's finished, Kotetsu's bleeding already from three stinging cuts on his forearm and face.

With a hint of a chill, he realizes that she could have cut his throat with any one of those blows, instead. Never mind that it's a cheap food court knife; it's got edge enough to break skin, and that's all she really needs. She's fast enough that he can't block, can't even reliably see what she's doing when she comes in for an attack.

So Kotetsu does the only think he can think to do: he rushes her.

It's like a bull charging a red cloth; she holds her ground and sidesteps, and when he comes back at her the other way, she does it again. Her movements are so clean – so precise, like clockwork. He's starting to think that he might be able to predict where she's going to end up and aim there instead when Barnaby beats him to it.

The pizza cutter flies end over end with the exacting form he's come to expect from all of Barnaby's moves in combat. Where he learned how to throw a blade, much less something so awkwardly balanced, is a question for another day. The important thing is that it hits her – smacks her in the side, handle-first – but she claps her hand over the impact site and stares at it, mouth open, like she's gushing blood from an artery. Shocked that anything made contact, probably.

"Hey – you get away from her!" someone yells.

Kotetsu looks up – takes in the shocked face of the other NEXT. He's on the escalator now, coming down, taking the steps like someone's life depended on it, and Kotetsu wonders for just an instant if the pizza sauce smeared all over the woman's clothes looks like blood from that far away. Then his gaze wanders up, to the place where Blue Rose and Fire Emblem lean up against the bannister, bound and gagged.

He feels an instant's warm relief that they're still moving, and then Blue Rose sees him looking, starts thrashing in the bonds. From here, her face is going red with the effort, like she's trying to yell something, but Kotetsu can hear nothing at all.

It takes him all of two seconds to take that all in – but when he looks back, the NEXT has already hurled herself at Barnaby. She comes down against him hard; Kotetsu sees him jerk with the impact, cry out at the contact with his legs. In the time it takes him to grope behind him for a new weapon, she stabs him twice in the shoulder. His hand swings back around with a plate, the first thing available. It's not terribly effective, but the half-eaten pizza sticks to her cheek, and there's sauce in her eyes.

She's still clawing to get it out when Kotetsu slams into her.

He seizes her by the wrist with one hand – pulls her around and punches her square in the jaw. She yanks backward, an attempted retreat, but tethered to her opponent, her speed doesn't help her at all. Kotetsu tightens his grip and presses the advantage, and her nose is bleeding after the next blow.

"Don't you touch her!" calls the power-drainer, closer at hand now, and Barnaby says, "Look out!"

Kotetsu doesn't think; he only moves. He grabs the woman by the collar of her shirt and keeps hold of her wrist – spins her around with all his strength and uses the momentum to shove her at the other NEXT.

They go down in a tangle of limbs and a flash of blue light, and when she starts struggling to her feet an instant later, it's at regular speed, clumsy and slow.

"You're under arrest," Kotetsu tells them. "Give up now and make this easier on yourselves."

"Are you kidding?" says the NEXT woman, swaying on her feet. "It's still two on one."

It is still two on one.

They don't stand a chance – not now that Kotetsu's learned the hard way how to take opponents down within a one-minute timeframe. Not with Barnaby sitting on the table behind him, hunched over in pain, a hand clamped over the fresh stab wounds in his shoulder.

Forty-five seconds later, when Kotetsu throws open the doors to the mall, the press streams in like water.

"Let the EMTs through _first_ ," he bellows – and for a wonder, they listen.

Barnaby offers him a small, pale smile as they load him onto the stretcher to carry him away.


End file.
